New York City FC came tantalizingly close to exorcising two demons: Last weekend’s historic beating at the hands of their archrival, and their home woes that went back a lot further than that. Then came Sunday’s last-minute gut punch that left them with a 2-2 draw against Orlando City SC that felt a lot more like a loss.
They had MLS’ top scorer standing at the penalty spot with a golden opportunity for a 3-0 lead that could’ve essentially iced a win to vault them atop the Eastern Conference. But David Villa’s slip and miss cost them dearly, and it came home to roost when they coughed up a goal just two minutes later and then Kevin Molino’s headed equalizer in the 94th minute, seconds away from victory.
“When you are in good moments, you score in the last minutes, or the [opponents’] ball goes to the crossbar. We are in bad moments, unlucky, or [in] moments of the game deserving more,’’ said Villa, who has missed just two of 11 penalties. “We put more in the pitch than the other team, and deserved more in the game. I [sliced] the penalty and if I score the penalty its 3-0, the game is done.’’
But he didn’t, and NYCFC (4-4-6, 18 points) paid for it in front of 25,039 at Yankee Stadium.
Facing an Orlando City SC team devoid of star Kaka — with Brazil for Copa America — NYCFC wasted a solid bounce-back performance and stayed fourth in the East.
“It was very disappointing,’’ said Andrea Pirlo. “We started off up 2-0, we were winning. We should’ve sealed the deal, so that is always frustrating. But we will work on that.”
They’d suffered a 7-0 thrashing last weekend by the rival Red Bulls, and are now just 1-2-5 at Yankee Stadium and 7-9-9 all-time at home, worst in MLS since last year’s debut.
“We know that we have to improve our home games. But if we don’t get the points at home we have to get them somewhere; and if we have to get them away from home, we will do it,” said coach Patrick Vieira. “But we’re conscious that we need to improve our home performance.”
After Frederic Brilliant and Villa had given them a 2-0 lead — the latter a world-class chip in the 66th minute off a Pirlo pass — the Spaniard had a chance to kill the game four minutes later.
Khiry Shelton drew a penalty when Seb Hines got called for a hand ball in the box. But Villa who has an MLS-leading nine goals – will rue not scoring his 10th, his left foot slipping on the watered-down grass and shanking his kick into the stands.
“When the events happen like that, momentum shifts,’’ said Jason Hernandez. “It was on us to stand strong and withhold the pressure.”
They didn’t. It took just two minutes to concede to Julio Baptista. And seconds away from the death, Carlos Rivas sent in a cross and Cyle Larin squared his header back into the center of the box for Molina to nod home and stun NYCFC.
“Unfortunately we took another punch, so this is going to be a test of character,’’ said Hernandez. “The guys who are more than just talk and really about it are going to show up [Monday] ready to work and get the full three [points] on Thursday.”